Swarming In: Ram Introduces The Rumble Bee Concept

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

August 17, 2013

Let's go back in time to 2003, when Ram was still part of the Dodge family. It was around that time when a special model of the Ram was introduced. Called the Rumble Bee, this special Ram 1500 regular cab donned a yellow and black paint job and a number of touches to pay homage to the Rumble Bee cars of the sixties. Well Ram is doing it again. At the Woodward Dream Cruise today, Ram unveiled a concept version of the Rumble Bee.

Starting with the lightest configuration of the Ram 1500 (regular cab with 2WD), Ram applies a Drone Yellow paint job with a matte finish, back accent strip with the Rumble Bee logo, and a Mopar ground effects kit to give it an aggressive stance on the road. Blacked out twenty-inch wheels and trim pieces finish the exterior touches. The black and yellow theme continues inside with leather and mesh bucket seats. The Rumble Bee logo appears on the chairs and floor mats. Now the coolest or oddest feature is the actual amber-encased bee found within the rotary shift knob. This isn't a joke.

Power comes from a 5.7L HEMI V8 with 395 horsepower and 407 pound-feet of torque. An eight-speed automatic with a revised 4.10 final drive ratio should make this very quick off the line. There is also two buttons below the shift knob that you can control how loud the Mopar cat-back dual-exhaust system. The two settings are 'loud' and 'LOUDER!'.

Source: Ram

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected]or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

Press Release is on Page 2

Ram 1500 Rumble Bee Concept Buzzes into Detroit for Woodward Dream Cruise

- Inspired by the Super Bee of the late 60's, the Rumble Bee concept celebrates its 10-year anniversary at the 2013 Woodward Dream Cruise

- Ram Truck brand continues with tradition and creative design, building unique pickups for consumers to enjoy

Woodward Dream Cruise, Mich., Aug 17, 2013 - Ten years ago, the Ram Truck Brand introduced the Rumble Bee, a popular model inspired by the Super Bee muscle car of the late '60s. Today, Ram unveiled a new HEMI-powered Ram 1500 Rumble Bee concept to celebrate the 10-year anniversary and the heritage of Ram's unique truck designs that include the Lil Red Express, Warlock and Power Wagon.

"The Ram 1500 Rumble Bee continues to have a strong fan base and what better place to celebrate its 10-year anniversary than Woodward Dream Cruise," said Reid Bigland, President and CEO of Ram Truck Brand, Chrysler Group LLC. "There's a lot of energy surrounding concept trucks and buzz models, and the Ram Design Team revels in creating something that is unique for our customers to enjoy."

The Rumble Bee concept began life as a 2013 Ram 1500 R/T. Keeping with tradition, the lightweight, two-door; 2WD configuration is covered in "Drone Yellow" paint with a unique matte finish. The rare color/finish flows over the entire truck including the bumpers, flares and the Mopar ground effects kit. True to form, a new "Speed Bee" design is swathed on both sides of the truck within a gloss black stripe that fades into honeycomb. The stripe glides front to rear, around the top of the bed and over the Mopar tonneau cover to memorialize HEMI-powered vehicles of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which dominated the racing scene. Factory 22-inch wheels are replaced with gloss black, 24-inch, Vellano VRH custom rollers and a 2-inch drop provided by King Suspension enhances handing performance and appearance with the help of a reservoir shock at each wheel. The grille, hood vents, badging, fuel door and the dual exhaust tailpipes are coated in gloss black, carrying the theme on all sides.

The colors and graphics spread through the Ram R/T-based interior, featuring black and Drone Yellow leather sport mesh seats with two-tone yellow/light-grey stitching. "Rumble Bee" lettering and Ram logos adorn chairs, floor mats and door bolsters. The interior center-piece is an actual amber-encased bee mounted into the 8-speed rotary shifter knob that lights up to expose a honeycomb pattern background. Two buttons below the knob control exhaust cutouts to bypass the Mopar cat-back dual-exhaust system, allowing the full sound force of a 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 to escape - loud and LOUDER! The unique honeycomb pattern is shared with door trim and the dash, where a milled aluminum "10th Anniversary" commemorative badge serves as the truck's ID.

Under hood, the Ram 1500 Rumble Bee concept houses a 5.7-liter HEMI with 395 horsepower and 407 lb.-ft. of torque, mated to a TorqueFlite 8-speed automatic transmission. The HEMI is fitted with a custom gloss yellow and black engine cover with honeycomb graphic pattern. Mopar's cold-air intake system gives the HEMI a bump in performance and relentless torque is transferred through a 4.10 gear set for quick jumps off the line.